Rating: 
Summary: Might be better expressed on film
Review: I'm not accusing Daniel Clowes of making a graphic novel for the express purpose of turning it into a movie, but it is clear that he thinks in cinematic terms when creating this one. There are even music cues in a couple parts. This is obviously due to the fact that David Boring is a movie writer, but I still think the story itsself would be a stronger one on film. I don't feel like the characters and feelings in the story were expressed very well, maybe the story was too brief to be so complex, or maybe it's just the drawings. I honestly just don't like the way he renders his characters - they have a 1950's-ish creepy look about them, and they just don't seem to convey what I think they're supposed to. Maybe it's just me, but I constantly feel like I'm having to interpret what he's really trying to say, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it interrupts the flow of the story.
As I said before, either a longer book or possibly a film could get across whatever he was trying to get across. It's no doubt a creative and interesting story that makes a funny and dark comedy about a guy with a butt fetish. I will probably read this book several more times to catch things I missed. I think that's the way all his books should be read.
Rating: 
Summary: Disastrous attempt to imitate modern American novels
Review: I'm not sure which writers Clowes was drawing on, but its clear that Clowes is trying here to work in the same vein as Pynchon, Barth, Gaddis and other recent novelists who mix black humor, absurdism, and pop culture together. Clowes tries to do this using comic-book lore. The lead character searches after a rare comic book drawn by his late father. There are all sorts of improbable events, including nuclear armageddon. Reading this is like watching kids using a chess set to play chess. Clowes doesn't have the erudition or the richness of humor to pull it off (neither do most recent MFA-credited novelists).
Rating: 
Summary: David Boring
Review: Marvelous! This graphic novel documents the journeys of David Boring, a quirky 20 something security guard who has an obsessive manner and is enthralled by women's rear ends... The plot is sprinkled with strange twists and endless black humor, leaving you tickled pink. The art is fantastic, as is typical from Clowes (author of wildly popular Ghost World and Eight Ball). From murder to apocalyptic premonitions, to having sex with god, this book has it all, but not in an obviously absurd way. This graphic novel should not be passed by.
Rating:
Summary: never read it
Review: never read it so dont ask me how was it
Rating:
Summary: fanboys need not apply
Review: quite possibly the best story ever told in the graphic novel format.
Rating:
Summary: If this is your first exposure to Clowes...
Review: read Ghost World first, because it holds together a lot better than David Boring, even though this is a much more ambitious book. This was actually the first Clowes that I read, and it was the first third of the book, about him courting and then losing Wanda, that had me absolutely hooked. I was completely with him during the second third, too, but I started losing it after he kept getting involved with woman after woman, indicating that the love story with Wanda - which had my complete attention and sympathy - was just part of a desire on his part to seek out women with big rears. It made some sort of thematic sense, but Clowes gave Wanda too much character to be just another pair of cheeks and, after she departs, the book seems to move hastily through a whole series of intricately conceived but largely arbitrary adventures, with little human interest. I think if Clowes had committed more time and energy - maybe another forty or fifty pages - to the end of the book, it wouldn't seem like it was rushing towards an ending that sort of came out of nowhere. And although it lacks the emotional impact of Ghost World, the book still left me with an incredible feeling of loss, even as it seemed to be somewhat redemptive. (The artwork here, incidentally, is probably his best ever, with every frame showing the marks of care and thought.)
Rating: 
Summary: A Cult Book, Not for Everyone
Review: The point of view is from someone who's never read or seen Ghostworld. I found David Boring to be interesting and well-constructed (both the text and graphics), but unenjoyable. I was prompted to read it after a New York Times article referred to it as a "cult classic" on campuses.
The overall effect is a end-of-20th-century film noir caught on paper. The main characters are ordinary people, although some act out in more extreme ways than others. The plotline and art is designed to give it a surreal feel (e.g. murder, suspicious police, beautiful women, concerns about apocalypse, a remote island.). The characters are not wholly unsympathetic, but they're so removed that you can't really empathize with them. It's a good idea to reread the book a couple of times; there's a lot of detail to catch.
Personally, if I want a film noir, I rather watch one than read one.
Warning: nudity, sexual situations, and violence
Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: the second book I've read by Daniel Clowes. Like the first, it also made me cry at the end at its beauty. This book is absolutely wonderful, and I reccomend it to anyone. The characters are so rich, the mood so developed. Daniel Clowes has a way of making everything feel not only "real", but "exciting"...and this is no exception.
Rating: 
Summary: SPOILERS: Well written, but supremely depressing
Review: The story of "David Boring" is really great. It takes its characters through a roller-coaster ride of surprising plot twists, with all kinds of wonderful literary junk in there. But -- even though lots of stuff happens to the characters, I don't feel like they really grow or change by the time the book ends. All of David's quests come for naught. The ending doesn't feel like the ending of a novel; it feels more like the ending of a short story. And maybe this book wouldn't depress me so much if Dan Clowes had the ability or desire to draw anyone honestly smiling or -- heavens! -- laughing. Based on this book and "Sleeping Beauty" in LITTLE LIT, it becomes clear to me that Clowes himself is a very depressed person. This comes through in his art.... But, overall, DAVID BORING is a well-constructed graphic novel that gives a glimpse into the full-scale renaissance of comics literature that could be just around the corner. (As it says on the second page of JIMMY CORRIGAN, "It is expected that the earliest examples of such literature will appear in target economic regions later in the year, with a general release in the fall.")...
Rating:
Summary: Whimsical Take of Apocalyptic Times
Review: The whole story is set against the year of 1999, leading to its end. The threat of a terrorist act and killings underscore the human follies of this funny, but sad story. The cataclysmic apocalypse of the world takes a secondary importance to being left over by love, in loneliness. A very lyrical and interesting juxtaposition. Daniel Clowes has a tremendous gift as a storyteller, and in this comic book, he conscientiously chooses the 3-act screenplay form, both using it as a legitimate vehicle for his story and also as a deconstructive techinique. His characters are wonderfully three-dimensional, and the way they go in and out of love is always shown through a sympathetic, but detached view. The mistakes the characters make, the yearnings and losses... approximate the real human experience. The ending is a hopeful one - even as the end-time seems to be near, another possibility of love keeps David Boring afloat. Although Chris Ware seems to have caught the public and critical acclaim, when it comes to telling stories of modern alienation, there is no graphic artist to best Daniel Clowes. Not yet. Impressive.
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